Cahokia tops Marquette

Published
2:53 pm CDT, Thursday, June 4, 2015

JERSEYVILLE — It’s not the style of game that Cahokia likes to play. But when push came to shove against the pesky Marquette Catholic Explorers, the Comanches had an answer with their in-your-face, pressure style of defense.

Sophomore Montez Crumble scored a game-high 22 points, including five during an 8-0 run in the third quarter when the Comanches re-grabbed the lead for good in a 39-30 victory against the Explorers on Friday evening in the 2015 Panther Classic at Havens Gymnasium.

Cahokia, 9-11 overall and 3-1 in the tournament, faced a Marquette team, which fell to 0-4 in the tournament and 13-8 overall, that was dead-set on slowing the tempo down, and playing a disciplined style of game.

The Comanches were able to get enough turnovers (they forced 14) to play a transition style more suited for their game.

“It’s been that kind of (grind-it-out game) the last three or four days,” Cahokia coach Darian Nash said. “These guys are just sleep-walking. I tell them you can’t take anybody or granted. Everybody’s out to beat you. We’ve got to play our ‘A’ game almost every night.”

Forcing turnovers and trapping the ball-handler is Cahokia’s style. The Comanches held Marquette leading scorer Shandon Boone to 10 points, but more importantly, 1-for-17 from 3-point range.

“We watched them play and we figured if we cut the head off of No. 10, it would be hard for them to get points and make baskets,” Nash said. “

The Comanches were 14 of 37 from the floor and didn’t get the kind of second- and third-chance points they got in a 14-point victory against host Jersey on Wednesday.

“We’ve got to make baskets,” Nash said. “We stop people, but we still have to put the ball through the hole like it’s nothing-nothing. I think our length really gave them a problem.”

However, Crumble was on. He made 7 of 9 field goals, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range.

“Crumble’s tough,” Marquette coach Steve Medford said. “Some of his shots, I told the kids if he wants to stand out there an and-one from mid-range, I’m OK with that. Let’s just not lunge at him and let him go by us. He hit a couple tough three’s, a couple contested three’s. That’s what they do.

“… I told the kids all along Cahokia’s got two dials. The first three-quarter dial is, ‘Hey, we’re going to let you play and hang around.’ When they want to dial it up a little bit, they dialed it up a little bit.”

The Explorers weren’t playing poorly on defense in the first half. They limited Cahokia to 6 of 21 shooting and only 17 points, but Marquette could make nothing of their own on the offensive side. It was 2-for-18 from the floor in the half and didn’t make a field goal until Jacob Fischer’s lay-up with 3 minutes, 53 seconds to play in the second quarter.

“We couldn’t buy a basket,” Medford said. “We played real timid in the first quarter. I was really wanting to come out and play loose and free and try to attack them and put them on their heels a little bit. But we were a little scared and a little timid and I had to call two timeout’s early just to try and get them fired up a little bit.

“When you shoot (8-for-37), you’re not going to win too many games, but with previous teams, we would have had guys that would probably have felt sorry for themselves. We kept doing the little things, we kept extending, we kept boxing out on rebounding. To their credit, that says a lot about their character.”

Marquette made a third-quarter run after being down nine.

They would tie the game 19-19 on Trey Aguirre’s free throws, but an ensuing turnover and basket by Crumble, followed by a 3-pointer by Antonio Donald and trey from Crumble and it was an eight-point game again.

“We got them into foul trouble really fast,” Medford said. “Fouls were a part of it, so we got to the bonus pretty quick, and then I also thought we made a few shots there also. That was a key.

“… That’s what makes them tough is they wear you down and they pressure you and they pressure you. It takes you out of your comfort zone.”